Support Specialist : Balance

[brick_top1982]

:IS2:

Oops, that was another game.

But yeah if there was a commando then you'd have helped

Nips demands moar BULLPUPS!!!!!!

 

[Half A Pounder]

I know this is old but since nothing has changed what I'm about to say still applies. The support specialist is slightly overpowered. His weaknesses are reload time ammo and range. The former two weaknesses are compensated by the fact his shotguns can easily clear corridors of specimens before he needs to reload and that he can offperk a katana for cleaning stray clots and such. Range is a problem as he cant take out husks and sirens in a safer manner like most of the other classes can, but they are quickly dispatched of, and they are the only two ranged specimens ( i guess the bloat also counts) bar the patrirarch. The fact that most specimens will be getting close to you, and most wipes happen when specimens are too close is why this debate is huge. What really sets support speciliast apart is that in close range he can kill the scrake quicker than a berzerker or sharpshooter can, and kill fleshpounds with less risk than a demolitions. Why can he do this? its because the hunting shotgun in particular is too powerful. The support specilaist has the weight capacity to carry a katana or axe to flinch and uppercut a scrake with the HSG. However, it doesnt end there. At this point I'm pretty sure that most of you realize that u dont even NEED the flinch to one shot a scrake with the HSG. All you have to do is aim downward, wait till he approaches melee range, and just as he trys to cut u with the chainsaw , jump and alt fire and u will OHKO the scrake 100 percent of the time. Then versus the fleshpound, there is more risk for him simply because it only takes one siren or one well placed husk fireball to ruin either of the aforementioned combos: Nade + HSG, 2 nades ; or Nade + HSg + Nade, HSG. Just a fun fact that for the first combo, you only do need 3 nades and one HSG, however some of the time people need the second follow up shot due to misplaced grenades and or initial HSG. That aside, i don't think that removing the nade bonus solves the problem. I think however that giving scrakes and fleshpounds a resistance to HSG in particular or shotguns in general to make them a bit harder to kill would be more appropriate. But it all depends on what Tripwire intends for the class to do. It's not so much of a problem that support can deal with large and small crowds of specimens alike , all classes except commando can do that now. Its just that for the support specialist no other class can be as effective and efficient against every type of specimen once the specimens are close except for the berzerker, who is arguably OP as well. The suppport specialist doesn't struggle when he gets swarmed like demo and sharps can. And them being better at range, while definitely a bonus, doesn't really affect the argument since killing floor as i said before has only one truly long ranged specimen during the first ten waves ( husk ).

 

[naksiloth]

Claim#1: Support Specialist is OP; can kill FP with 3 nades in 3 seconds!
- Correction#1: Yet, Support Specialist have to land another finishing touch after 3 nades combo in a 6p HoE setup if he didn't throw a fourth grenade or pulled the first shot with a great success. 3 nades and 2 double blasts cost a total sum of 150£, and it rewards the player with 130£ for FP kill. Same speedkill can be done by Sharps at the cost of 7-14£ with M14 or LaR. For demolition it takes like 3 M32 and 1-2 nade tosses at most to kill one of them, which costs like 61-101£. Both of these mentioned perks have the option of taking a safe distance when engaging Fleshpound so they may evade incoming Sirens.

Support don't have such option at the presence of Sirens but to sweep behind and drop Sirens first before engaging the time they see them. It can be a fatal mistake to not leave the engage to other perks after that point, since it'll be too late. Killing up to 3 FP is only at the table if they're not served with Sirens or Husks. Support can kill double or tripple FP if they're clumped together and NOT at the foreshadow of Sirens. That's not being overpowered that's a trait of being the heavy hitter of team. Demolition itself have enough ammunition pool to kill multiple Fleshpounds (like; enough to kill a total of 6 up to 8 average) by the help of M32 with airborne nade set offs and pipe darting.

Claim#2: Support Speshultz is OP; can carry l337 melee wepunz to flinch uppercut Sgraepz.
- Correction#2: Since L.A.W is removed from Supports, their gameplay and Scrake handling evolved as that. A Sharp can decimate a Scrake from 100 meters with 2 bow bolt headshots and it takes them like 1.7 seconds to shoot the second bolt.
For Support Specialist to handle a Scrake, it requires; decent trash clearing from teammates, a flat-surface engage for chance of succeeding, Scrake's all attention on him for better pinpoint accuracy. Trick itself requires to be accurate, especially if you have wonky ping or holding a Machete good luck finding sweet spots without practicing a darn moment.

Claim#3: Zupport is oh-peeh; can kill 5 specimun wif wun shot.
- Correction#3: Sharps can line 5 specimen dead with one HC headshot, Firebugs can scorch everything infront of them with FT without even needing to aim. That doesn't make anyone overpowered. Let alone Commandos can kill a few lined up specimen with so few shots since good lined up headshots pierce enough to drop the second specimen.
Support Specialists don't have the luxury of reloading faster like any of the above mentioned perks. Since his ranged options are pretty limited against ranged threats like Sirens and Husks, he have to direct himself to offperk weaponry to be effective at combat and time his reloads as well.

All those traits don't make them overpowered but it's enough to make them a "Support".